Echoes the radio show owes its name to Pink Floyd’s “Echoes” and that song’s signature sound was the opening sonar pings of Floyd keyboardist, Richard Wright. He died today, September 15 at the age of 65, reportedly after a losing bout with cancer. The BBC has one of the earliest obituaries. Wright was an original…
Tag: echoes
Reviews & Commentary
The Nerve-Music & the Mind
On Echoes, I’ve frequently sought the answer to the big question, Why? Not the “Why do we exist?” question, but the “Why do we like the music we do? Why do we respond to it the way we do? Why do some people love crappy music and why doesn’t everyone like Echoes music, which of…
Reviews & Commentary
Lights Out Asia and Near the Parenthesis
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http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20080910.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSLights Out Asia and Near the Parenthesis create an ambient rock You can hear an audio version of this review, with music. The n5MD record label began with a suspect business plan. They were going to release their music only on mini-disc. Although commercially that format went the way of…
Program Highlights
General Fuzz: Ambient Chamber Trip-hop, for Free
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http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.generalfuzz.net/echoes/interview.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSJames Kirsch is a classically trained pianist who decided to plug in. For the last few years he’s been releasing albums that have down-tempo moods and jazzy improvisations under the name of General Fuzz. Kirsch is part of an eclectic generation of electronic musicians who might see a…
Reviews & Commentary
A Trip to the Drone Zone with Furthernoise
It’s difficult finding reliable reference material about the music you hear on Echoes. I’ve yet to locate a single site that reliably covers the music heard on the show, or even some of its significant component parts. One interesting site I recently stumbled across is Furthernoise.org out of the U.K. It travels through the darker…
Reviews & Commentary
Echo Location: Ronn McFarlane’s 21st Century Lute
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http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20080903.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSIt’s not your ancient Renaissance lute anymore when Ronn McFarlane creates new music for an ancient instrument. (You can hear an Audio Version of this blog, with music.) In 2006, Sting put out an album of tunes by 16th century composer John Dowland called Songs from the Labyrinth.…
Reviews & Commentary
Michael Brook & Djivan Gasparyan Return with Penumbra
Michael Brook has been a fixture on Echoes since we launched in 1989 and he recorded one of the first Living Room Concerts from the London apartment he lived in then. He’s remained a fixture on the show with inventive releases and collaborations. Penumbra continues this tradition. In the 1990s, Michael Brook built a segment…
Best Of
The Best Echoes Songs Ever? O Superman? Music for 18 Musicians?
Being from the pre-digital generation, I still organize music in terms of artists and albums. I thought of this recently as our local Echoes affiliate, WXPN in Philadelphia, has been pumping their latest poll, The Top 885 Essential XPN Songs.
Reviews & Commentary
Blow Your Mind Music Video in Advanced Beauty
If you’re looking for some delirious eye-candy to take your mind somewhere else, check out a site called cololourlovers.com Right now they’ve got a series of 18 computer paintings with original, mostly electronica music in a series called Advanced Beauty.
Reviews & Commentary
Thoughts in Sound: Cage, Eno, Jarrett, Riley
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http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20080820.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSThoughts in Sound from musicians at the bleeding edges of music including John Cage, Brian Eno, Terry Riley and Keith Jarrett. You can also hear an Audio Version of this blog, with music. Every musician plays notes, but some of them think about the nature of sound a…